Israeli Attack Kills 300 in Lebanon    04/10 06:15

   

   BEIRUT (AP) -- Lebanon reeled Thursday after the deadliest day of the 
renewed war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, 
with the death toll exceeding 300 people as more remains were pulled from 
rubble and bodies identified at hospitals. Meanwhile, Israel made the surprise 
announcement of authorizing direct talks with Lebanon, despite their lack of 
diplomatic ties. Israeli attacks continued.

   The Health Ministry said that 1,150 people were also wounded in the 
widespread strikes that rocked Lebanon on Wednesday, including in busy parts of 
Beirut.

   There was no immediate response to the Israeli announcement from Lebanon, 
which had repeatedly proposed talks to end the war, or from Hezbollah. Israeli 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that talks would focus on disarming 
Hezbollah and "establishing peaceful relations" between the countries.

   Negotiations are expected to begin next week at the State Department in 
Washington, according to a person familiar with the plans. The talks are 
expected to be handled on the American side by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon 
Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel 
Leiter, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the 
delicacy of the situation.

   A Lebanese diplomatic official familiar with the developments said that the 
country has not yet appointed someone to lead talks from Beirut, but Lebanese 
President Joseph Aoun is keen to have a temporary ceasefire when talks commence 
in parallel with those taking place between the United States and Iran mediated 
by Pakistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with 
regulations.

   Israel's announcement came hours after it had warned of escalation and said 
that it had killed an aide and nephew of Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, Ali 
Yusuf Harshi.

   Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, earlier said that 
continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon would bring "explicit costs and STRONG 
responses," while insisting that a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war extended 
to Lebanon. Israel has disagreed.

   Israeli strikes on Wednesday, without warning, killed at least 203 people 
and wounded more than 1,000, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Israel's military 
said that it targeted Hezbollah sites, but several strikes hit densely packed 
commercial and residential areas during rush hour, leading to widespread 
civilian casualties. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the attacks 
"barbaric."

   U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said that Washington asked Israel 
to scale back attacks on Lebanon to ensure negotiations with Iran are 
successful.

   'I thought I was dead'

   In Beirut, people waited anxiously on the ragged edges of search and rescue 
work, shielding their faces from the dust. Exhausted firefighters sat on a 
charred car amid collapsed buildings.

   Lebanese Civil Defense spokesperson Elie Khairallah told The Associated 
Press that a wounded woman was found alive overnight in the seaside 
neighborhood of Ain Mreisseh, and a man was found alive in his collapsed 
apartment building in the southern suburbs.

   Mohammad Chehab, a Syrian man from Deir el-Zour, said that six of his 10 
family members had been found dead in a destroyed building.

   "They've been searching all day" for the rest, he said.

   At hospitals, survivors and doctors described the carnage, while relatives 
gathered to identify bodies.

   Abdul Rahman Mohammad, a Syrian who lost five relatives in the Hay al-Sellom 
neighborhood, waited at Rafik Hariri Hospital to retrieve the bodies of his 
mother, two sisters, brother and brother-in-law.

   "They were struck without any warning. This is Israeli brutality," he said.

   Dr. Mohamad El Zaatari, director of the public hospital, said that it had 
treated 45 wounded people, including 10 cases in intensive care.

   At the Makassed hospital, Rabee Koshok lay on his bed.

   "I thought I was dead. What happened?" he recalled. "A big flash of light 
struck my face and eyes, and I found someone flying over and landing next to 
me. He was dead."

   Koshok had been in the commercial district of Corniche al Mazraa when a 
strike hit a nearby building.

   Dr. Wael Jarrosh said that the hospital received around 70 wounded patients 
within 10 minutes of the blasts. Two people died and five remained 
hospitalized, including three in intensive care.

   "This has destroyed us psychologically," the doctor said.

   Lebanon alleges 'blatant violation' of international law

   Netanyahu earlier had said that strikes would proceed "with force, precision 
and determination." Israel's military has accused Hezbollah members of moving 
out of the group's main areas of influence in southern Lebanon and Beirut's 
southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, and blending into civilian areas.

   Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that his country would file an 
urgent complaint with the U.N. Security Council, calling the attacks a "blatant 
violation" of international and humanitarian law.

   In a Cabinet session earlier Thursday, the Lebanese government announced a 
plan to demilitarize Beirut and deploy larger numbers of security patrols.

   Even before the renewed war, Lebanon's government had sought Hezbollah's 
disarmament. The issue has inflamed tensions among Lebanese who are deeply 
divided over Hezbollah and its arsenal.

   Melhem Khalaf, a reformist legislator representing Beirut, was critical of 
Israel's strikes, but also of Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon back into war.

   "All the targeted areas are safe residential Lebanese areas," Khalaf said, 
while watching a bulldozer clear rubble. "What we are witnessing is a massacre 
against civilians."

   More than a million people have been displaced by the war, many from the 
south and Dahiyeh. Israel's military has issued warnings for the population to 
leave those areas, followed by heavy bombardment.

   Israel has also launched a ground invasion in the border region. The death 
toll in Lebanon has reached 1,739, the health ministry said, with 5,873 wounded.

   Meanwhile, the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria returned to 
service Thursday, five days after the Israeli military warned of plans to 
strike it, alleging that Hezbollah was using it to smuggle military equipment. 
Lebanese and Syrian authorities denied the claim.

   More than 200,000 people have fled Lebanon into Syria since the war resumed.